The Dave Bowman Show

A few political flyers and a morning cup of coffee completely derailed Dave Bowman's plans for Plausibly Live. After nearly 42 years of Democratic governors in Washington State, why are politicians still promising to fix problems their own party has spent decades governing? And could Washington's tax policies help cost Seattle its chance to bring back the SuperSonics? Political hypocrisy, higher t...

The world ends November 13, 2026. At least, that's what a mathematical prediction from 1960 has everyone talking about. Which raises an important question: Why do we keep listening to people who are spectacularly wrong? This week on What The Frock?, Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod take on the curious relationship between confidence, competence, faith, and the remarkable human ability to believe almost an...

87 Men. Three War Patrols. One Final Mission. Launched on October 17, 1943, USS Shark (SS-314) would serve barely a year before disappearing beneath the waters of the Luzon Strait. Her final patrol became entangled in one of World War II's most heartbreaking maritime tragedies. In this episode of Patrol Reports, discover the remarkable service, final battle, and enduring legacy of Shark and the 87...

What do a high school cross-country protest, the search for Noah's Ark, and the Los Angeles Dodgers' playoff elimination have in common? They're all raising questions about fairness, tradition, and what we choose to believe. On this episode of Plausibly Live, Dave Bowman begins in Washington State, where female athletes from Camas and Battle Ground high schools walked off a cross-country course in...

🎙️ NEW EPISODE | Plausibly Live! Who's raising your kids, you or the governor? Florida's social media restrictions have Dave questioning what happened to parental rights and personal liberty. PLUS: Apollo astronaut Charles Duke says UFOs are actually demons. Dave doesn't believe aliens exist, but demons in flying saucers? Seriously? Two stories. Big questions. And a healthy dose of skepticism. 🎧...

Christopher Columbus: Hero or villain? Was his mathematics really wrong? And why has history become so selective about whom we celebrate? On today's Plausibly Live, Dave Bowman explores the courage and controversy of 1492, plus new claims about the discovery of Noah's Ark in Turkey. History, faith, and the human spirit of adventure.

Fake news, political outrage, public executions, and medieval witch hunts. What do they all have in common? On this week's What The Frock?, Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod explore what happens when being right matters more than finding the truth. Plus, an actual burning fence. Because of course. 🎙️ Watch or listen to the new episode!

I've read the opening words of Genesis for most of my life. I thought I understood them. Then, this week, two ancient Hebrew words stopped me in my tracks. Tohu va-Vohu. We usually translate them as “without form and void.” But the medieval Jewish commentator Rashi offers a fascinating perspective: astonishingly empty. Imagine standing at the very beginning of Creation. No horizon. No familiar lan...

Stephen A. Smith has made a fortune saying whatever comes into his head. But his comments about Philadelphia Eagles star Lane Johnson's retirement and mental health crossed a line. Was it arrogance? A complete failure to do the research? Or has ESPN created an environment where its biggest personalities are simply too powerful to question? On this episode of Plausibly Live: The Dave Bowman Show, D...

It started with a question from my son: “What do you think about book bans?” The answer isn't really about books. It's about liberty. If we genuinely believe in self-determination, we have to accept that other people may read things we despise, hear arguments we believe are wrong, and even reach conclusions we wish they wouldn't. The answer to bad speech is better speech. The answer to bad ideas i...

In 1776, Benjamin Franklin was seventy years old, suffering from gout, and boarding a Continental warship for a dangerous winter crossing of the Atlantic. His mission? Convince France that the American Revolution was worth betting on. This week on Dave Does History, follow Franklin from the deck of the Reprisal to the salons of Paris, where celebrity, secret diplomacy, British spies, American priv...

Government promises to save you money. Somehow, it usually finds another way to collect it. On this episode of Plausibly Live, Dave looks at the curious art of government cost engineering: California politicians and their cars, property-tax “relief,” and why the enormous cost of the death penalty may tell us as much about government as it does about capital punishment. Then we head to North Korea,...

Can an AI have a soul? This week on What The Frock, Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod tackle a question that sounds like science fiction but is rapidly becoming a serious theological debate: if an artificial intelligence can reason, claim to feel fear, and perhaps even experience suffering, what exactly have we created? Then it’s off to Portland, where teenage tweets, cancel culture, forgiveness, and “zero...

If fentanyl kills thousands of Americans, why isn’t it used for executions? And what does a fifty-cent convenience-store overcharge become when the customer is paying with taxpayer-funded SNAP benefits? Plus, AI can explain your lab results, but should you trust it as a medical “second opinion”? Fentanyl, fifty cents, and Dr. AI. Somehow, it all connects. Plausibly Live with Dave Bowman.

Sometimes, you just need a second act. Charlie Sheen is heading back to television in Happy Jack, alongside his father, Martin Sheen. And as someone who still considers the Charlie Harper years of Two and a Half Men one of my guilty pleasures, I'm rooting for him. Not because the past doesn't matter. It does. But the worst years of a person's life don't necessarily have to define the rest of it. P...

George Washington was fighting the British. But another enemy was tearing through the Continental Army, and muskets and artillery were useless against it. Smallpox threatened to destroy the Revolution from within. Washington initially prohibited inoculation. Then the evidence forced him to reconsider. What followed was one of the most consequential and dangerous decisions of his command: deliberat...

White paint is racist? Trevor Lawrence is helping your fantasy team? And every strange play now comes with the question: How much money was riding on that? On today’s Plausibly Live, we start with a viral story that sounds too ridiculous to be true, which turns out to be exactly why you should check it before sharing it. Then it’s football, fantasy leagues, prop bets, parlays, and what legalized g...

Who holds the people with authority accountable? This week on What the Frock?, Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod take that question from the pulpit to Candace Owens and the courtroom, then straight into the rapidly expanding world of AI. Everybody wants authority. Nobody wants accountability.

Lewis & Clark left behind more than journals. Thanks to Dr. Benjamin Rush’s mercury-laced “Thunderclappers,” they also left archaeologists a rather unusual trail across America. Then, why Charlotte Hornets? The answer goes back to 1780, Lord Cornwallis, Patriot militia, and a town the British came to regard as a “nest of hornets.” Thunderclappers and Hornets: The Strange Places History Survives

The United States says it has a weapon in orbit but has revealed little about what it does. Could the announcement deter an adversary, or could uncertainty make a confrontation in space more dangerous? On this episode of Plausibly Live, I look at the possibilities behind that announcement, from disrupted signals to damaged satellites, and at a question Star Trek fans may recognize: what happens wh...

What do a progressive bar facing an ideological revolt and my wife wanting a cat have in common? In both cases, somebody thinks they’re in control. Today on Plausibly Live: why appeasement never satisfies the alligator, what Cats teaches us about feline ownership, and the growing possibility that Cami has already chosen the cat.

On November 16, 1776, Fort Washington fell and nearly 3,000 American soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. Almost 1,800 miles away, the Continental Navy brig Andrew Doria entered the harbor at St. Eustatius and fired a thirteen-gun salute. Eleven guns from the Dutch fortress answered. Dave Bowman tells the story of the First Salute, the Golden Rock of St. Eustatius, and the commercial networ...

Can President Trump throw reporters out of the White House simply because he believes their coverage is dishonest? The First Amendment does not guarantee anyone a seat in the briefing room. Once the government grants press credentials, however, the Fifth Amendment demands something the White House cannot ignore: due process. Dave also examines Gavin Newsom’s $750 million Hollywood tax-credit progr...

Does G-d care who wins a football game? Rabbi Dave and Friar Rod question why victorious athletes credit G-d’s will while nobody visits the losing locker room to ask whether G-d wanted that team to lose. Then the conversation turns to fear of artificial intelligence and Britain’s alarming proposal to “pre-bunk” ideas before the public hears them. Faith, football, AI, free speech, and the Ministry...

Over the weekend, I discovered a great-aunt whom nobody in our family knew had ever existed. Loma M. Bowman was born in Butler, Missouri, on September 15, 1914. She died two days later and was buried in an unmarked potter’s field. Her name disappeared from our family’s living memory for more than a century. I cannot change what happened, but it can return Loma to the family story. Her name was Lom...